Sunday, May 27, 2012

Are y'all feeling as overwhelmed as me right now?? This time of year is just beyond crazy! But it's also such an exciting time. I love thinking about new ideas and different ways to decorate my classroom. I've got a whole new color scheme and classroom layout that I can't wait to show y'all, so be sure and look for my classroom makeover posts just as soon as the wax on our floors dries and we are allowed back in our building! haha :)

In the meantime, I've been finding some really fabulous new (to me anyways) blogs out there and I wanted to share a couple with y'all. I stumbled on this first one via pinterest and have been scrolling through her blog for about 20 min now, pinning ideas. It's called First Grade Wow

Wow! I felt like typing that in the description every time I pinned something. Nancy has some great ideas like the speller tellers and I'm loving her ice cream similes. Head over there now and start pinning away.

This next blogger emailed me and gave me her blog link and I'm so glad she did! Ms. C's blog is called Just Wild About Teaching

She also has some great ideas, but my favorite is her Father's Day activity. We get out way before Father's Day so I've never done anything with this holiday, but I feel like I should. Now I want to go back and have my kids do this activity because it is so stinkin' cute. Go look at it now y'all. You'll love it!

If you have a new blog, email me the link so I can check it out! :) :) I'd love to start featuring new blogs this summer.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Our story this week is about Alexander G. Bell. I *love* this story, but hate that it falls during the last two weeks of school. There's so much you can do with it and it has so many good, interesting facts, but my kids attention is just not there. To help, we created some telephones (and apparently learned a new vocabulary word: landline :) )

Contrary to popular belief among my first graders, Alexander G. Bell did not invent the iPhone. :) :)

If you want the pattern for the telephone or iphone, just let me know and I'll post! :)

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

I had two concerns before I started teaching our book study on Eloise.

1. It was too above their heads and they wouldn't concentrate

2. The boys wouldn't like it.

I was wrong on both accounts. My kids LOVED this book. And I was pleasantly surprised at how well they understood it. It's quickly becoming a class favorite. We made our own Eloise, but I forgot to take pictures! The only ones I have are these:

This one has some hair issues. HAHA!

We also charted ALL the characters and places in the book because there are a LOT!

Recording sheets that accompany these anchor charts can be found in the literary companion

I've broken the book into 5 different parts (13 pages each) because the book is "rawther" lengthy ;) There are also comprehension questions for each section, bubble maps, writing prompts, abc order activities, recording sheets and a venn diagram activity. I meant to upload Sunday afternoon, but misplaced the patterns for the craft. I hate that I missed two days of the sale, so I'll place this item on sale for an extra two days. But remember, you get the extra 10%, plus my 20% off if you buy today!:)

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, everything in my store is 20% off! If you use the code above, you'll get additional savings. My Eloise Unit will be uploaded this afternoon, so be sure and look for it!